Formula European Masters

Catalunya: Volkswagen weekend summary

Volkswagen drivers in top ten with fighting performance Wolfsburg (21 September 2008). With strong recoveries, the Volkswagen drivers attracted attention at rounds 15 and 16 of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Barcelona, Spain. The runner-up in the ...

Published: Sep 22, 2008, 10:20 PM

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Volkswagen drivers in top ten with fighting performance

Wolfsburg (21 September 2008). With strong recoveries, the Volkswagen drivers attracted attention at rounds 15 and 16 of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Barcelona, Spain. The runner-up in the standings, Edoardo Mortara (I) from the Signature partner team, improved in Saturday's race on the National version of the Circuit de Catalunya from 15th position on the grid to ninth in the race, thanks to a good start "powered by Volkswagen", but was forced to retire in Sunday's race after a tussle at the start. RC Motorsport driver Jens Klingmann (D), who had finished eleventh after starting from 25th position on Saturday, consistently worked his way forwards, improving to eighth place on Sunday. For the 18-year-old, who was running in sixth place during part of the race, this has been the best result of the season so far.

Other Volkswagen drivers moved forward as well: Franck Mailleux (F), who last celebrated the second win of the season for Volkswagen at Brands Hatch, improved on Saturday from 26th position to a twelfth-place finish, but - like his team-mate Edoardo Mortara - had to retire after a starting collision on Sunday. Peter Elkmann (D), who made his racing debut for Volkswagen at Barcelona, climbed from position 28 to 13th place on Saturday. On Sunday, Robert Wickens (CDN) managed a big leap. After a starting collision on Saturday, the Canadian entered Sunday's race from the rear of the field and finished in 14th place after a strong recovery.

Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director:
"We can be satisfied with the race performance but not with the performance in qualifying. We've seen strong recoveries by our drivers here at Barcelona. Unfortunately, these top showings were not rewarded by points. This doesn't change the fact that we've surpassed our own expectations this season: two wins, nine further podium places, the chance of still winning the drivers' title with Edoardo Mortara as well as 27 point finishes are a much better result in our first full season since our return as an engine supplier to Formula 3 than we'd been dreaming of."

#32 - Jens Klingmann (D) - Volkswagen Dallara F308 - Team RC Motorsport
Qualifying: place 25 - race 1: place 11 - race 2: place 8

"All in all, it's been a positive weekend. We improved step by step and consistently bettered our performance in the races. Particularly the race on Sunday was a tough job. Each lap was like a qualifying lap. I fought hard to clinch my first point, but a few laps before the end I made a small mistake. That caused me to drop to eighth place. Still, I'm more than satisfied with what we achieved even though the icing on the cake was missing in the end."

#43 - Peter Elkmann (D) - Volkswagen Dallara F308 - Team RC Motorsport
Qualifying: place 28 - race 1: place 13 - race 2: place 21

"On balance, I can say that my first racing event for Volkswagen in the Formula 3 Euro Series was positive. After starting from zero in qualifying, we improved in the first race. The second race actually went well too. Unfortunately, I had slight body contact with my team-mate Jens Klingmann, which caused me to lose a lot of time. Fortunately, it had no negative consequences for him."

#7 - Edoardo Mortara (I) - Volkswagen Dallara F308 - Team Signature
Qualifying: place 15 - race 1: place 9 - race 2: retirement

"The whole weekend didn't go the way I'd expected it to. I came to Barcelona with the goal of putting the car onto the first five rows of the grid. Because I wasn't able to use my second set of fresh tyres in qualifying, I was only on row eight. I did manage to move forwards with a good start, but it wasn't enough to finish among the top eight, partly because I had a slightly damaged car after body contact. On Sunday, after the starting accident, my race was over."

-credit: volkswagen-motorsport.com

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